Marketers Should Attack DMP Adoption in Three Phases

"Marketer's Note" is a regular column informing marketers about the rapidly evolving, digital marketing technology ecosystem. This week it is written by Lizzie Komar, Associate Analyst, AdExchanger Research.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen both marketer excitement over, and actual investment in, DMPs grow significantly. Heralded as a “true audience intelligence engine,” the DMPs foundational role is to collect, manage, and activate data that marketers can use to build targetable user profiles and audience segments. But the reality is it’s not plug and play technology: DMPs require strategic focus, data savvy, and operational heavy lifting.

Next week, AdExchanger Research will release a new research report, “Attack Data Management Platform Adoption in Three Phases,” which presents data management platform (DMP) best practices for marketers across three necessary phases of the DMP journey – 1) requirements gathering, 2) vendor selection and 3) deployment.

After speaking to vendors and marketers alike, we found that actively addressing a handful of commonly encountered problems during each phase of rollout will maximize DMP value. This comment from a VP of marketing at a leading women’s retailer sums it up nicely: “Marketers using a DMP today should think of it as a tool to make existing marketing programs smarter. Expecting out of the box full cross-channel relevance is unrealistic; but over time, if adoption is strategic, the organization is aligned, and the industry keeps moving in the direction it’s headed, [the promise] will become a reality.”

Here’s a little more information on what we address in the report:

Phase one: Requirements gathering. During this phase, it’s critical to align the organization to support the DMP, set the goals that marketers want the DMP to accomplish, and devise a plan for the collection, management, and activation of data for the platform.

Phase two: Vendor selection. To address this phase, the report examines difficulties around navigating the DMP marketplace and offers topline advice on how to think about selecting the right DMP for your organization.

Phase three: Deployment. Crucial to DMP success is to conduct a methodical roll without biting off too much data at once. Start small to avoid data deluge.

You can look forward to much more research on DMPs, and audience management in general, from AdExchanger Research in the coming months. In the meantime, I hope you find value in the research. I’m so excited to hear your thoughts!